Nebraska's State Title-Winning Standouts: Liberos

Now that the dust has settled on the 2022 NSAA state championships, it's time to look at who stood out among Nebraska's best.   We'll be featuring a wide array of athletes who participated in this year's state tournament, and we're starting off with the players who held down the end line en route to a state title. Nebraska is always full of elite defenders, so it should be no surprise that liberos were a stacked position group in Lincoln last week.   So, let's revisit the defenders who shined on Nebraska's biggest high school stage.     Title Winners   Many of the state tournament's top liberos helped their respective teams win it all at the Devaney Center.   <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-full is-resized"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/11/IMG_2204-scaled-crop-1483x974-1668104760.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-245387" width="409" height="268"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Douglas serves in the 2022 Class B state championship match.</figcaption></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='59198' first='Makenzie' last='Dyrstad'] went out on top by playing a huge role in Papio South's second consecutive Class A title. The senior libero and Rutgers signee led all players in the Class A championship with 27 digs and also tallied seven assists to her credit. Several of Dyrstad's digs were jaw-dropping saves after hard-driven Westside attacks got past the Papio South block. We perhaps saw a passing of the torch between sisters in this match, too, as freshman Kami Dyrstad picked up 10 digs of her own in a defensive specialist role. The family pipeline isn't going away anytime soon.   [player_tooltip player_id='109597' first='Paisley' last='Douglas'] is another elite D1-bound libero who won a championship this year, but she still has one year left to produce more highlight moments with Omaha Skutt Catholic. The Southern California-bound junior amassed 35 digs in the five-set thriller against Elkhorn North, and Douglas has regularly shown her willingness to defend any zone in the backcourt. I particularly like Douglas' spot in middle-back, where her elite reading skills can really flourish. It helps to have veteran defensive specialist Anna Weberg in the mix there, too.   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/11/IMG_2115-scaled-crop-1349x886-1668104625.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-245385" width="409" height="268"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hedman (blue) digs a ball in the 2022 Class C1 championship match.</figcaption></figure>   Class C1 champion Grand Island Central Catholic received some outstanding contributions from junior libero Tristyn Hedman. Her 17-dig total only begins to depict her wide-ranging impact, as Hedman was a huge stabilizing force in serve receive for the Crusaders. And, speaking of serving, Hedman's tough serves yielded two aces in Saturday's championship match.   Lincoln Lutheran sophomore libero [player_tooltip player_id='155029' first='Keri' last='Leimbach'] did a little bit of everything to help the Warriors win back-to-back titles. It's not often that you see a libero notch two kills in a match, and it's even more impressive if those kills are deliberate (rather than the fortuitous "dig kill"). Leimbach's court vision was on full display with a pair of aggressive set-over kills into the deep corner in the C2 championship match. The other facet of Leimbach's game that shined in the championship was her out-of-system setting, as her great hands and consistent location yielded nine assists in just three sets.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1588981194825535488?s=20u0026t=WKT6bFYDet3L8AM8U89LfA </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1588988353214840833?s=20u0026t=WKT6bFYDet3L8AM8U89LfA </div></figure>   If Katy Jones wasn't on your radar as one of small-town Nebraska's top liberos, she is now. The Cedar Catholic junior was brilliant in the Trojans' march from the #7 seed all the way to the Class D1 championship. Fittingly, Jones probably saved her best tournament performance for the championship match against Norfolk Catholic, where she collected 28 digs and also had three crucial aces. With the enviable firepower that Cedar Catholic had in its frontcourt, ball control and first contacts became that much more important. Jones clearly took care of business in that regard and worked well alongside fellow defensive specialists Annika Kuehn, Faith Christensen, and [player_tooltip player_id='104985' first='Grace' last='Wortmann'].   Finally, we've reached Howells-Dodge, another repeat state champion. Jade Bayer locked down the backcourt for the Jaguars, and she handled the task well despite facing off against some intimidating Overton attackers. Her 19 digs in the championship match were part of a combined 101-dig effort for the entire Howells-Dodge lineup. We'll let Bayer take some credit for that.

Now that the dust has settled on the 2022 NSAA state championships, it's time to look at who stood out among Nebraska's best.